IOC 



JOUKNAL OP HOBTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEB. 



[ AuRTist 11, 1801. 



no two sides and no two ends alike, and yet not a vast differ- 

 ence between them, we take the average of the ends and of 

 the sides, and multiply them together. Thus A, b, c, d, is an 

 irregular field of four sides, A 10, B 16, c 18, D 20. Add A 

 8Jid B together, which would be 26, the half or average of 



which is 13. Then add c and d together, which makes 38. 

 half of which is 19, multiply 19 and 13 together, and you have 

 247 for the area. A truer method, if there ia much difference 

 in the opposite sides, and one which often involves less 

 trouble, as it saves going round all the sides, is to take the 

 diagonal line across, s, 26, and then the two perpendiculars, 

 F and a, 11 and 8 respectively, which added together make 

 19, the half of which is 9i, which multiplied by 20 gives the 

 same sum of 247 as the area or measurement of the surface 

 enclosed by the four outside lines. Did the field or park 

 have a boundary, as that marked by h h h h, it is most 

 litely we would use one of the two modes referred to for 

 measuring the liulk or centre, and we would throw the out- 

 sides into triangles, squares, or oblongs, regular or irregular, 

 and add their contents to the centre. Straight-lined gardens 

 and fields wiU ever have an advantage as respects utility, 

 though they be less pictm-esqvie in consequence. 



We have said nothing of the instruments, chains, flagstaffs, 

 level-boards, theodolite, &c., necessary for work on a great 

 scale ; we merely wish to indicate wh.at would be desirable, 

 ajid what a man fond of figxu-es and practice will readily 

 master. For the same reason we have said nothing of the 

 mode of measui'ing balls, circles, and other figirres, because 

 the student wUl find all this in the work he studies. We 

 have introduced the above notice on land-measuring because 

 lately we could scarcely convince a youth that an oblong 

 garden must be measured exactly as he would the surface 

 of a deal board — by its length and breadth. 



In the few times we have had the privilege to listen to 

 the examination of even one of our good common national 

 or British schools, nothing surprised us more than the readi- 

 ness of the schola.rs in mental computation, and that in 

 difficult sums too. In such matters the schools of the present 

 day are immeasurably superior to those of our boyhood. We 

 can well recollect, when in the rule of three, of a whole class 

 of us being nonplussed by the problem, " A herring and a 

 half for three-halfpence, how m.any wUl be got for eleven- 

 pence ?" Long before any of us had slated it down, a little 

 fellow, who that day had for the fii-st time emerged from 

 petticoats, sung out the answer, " Eleven, sir ;" and though 

 he did not shine with the slate or the pen with figures even 

 afterwards, he was always distinguished by the almost in- 

 stinctive quickness with which he could solve even a difiScult 

 problem, merely by mental computation. The slate or the 

 pen was quite a hindrance to him. Oiu- young friends will 

 find it no loss to keep up such a habit if they h.ave obtained 

 it, and an advantage to get it if they do not now possess it. 

 There will be jjlenty of room for it in the work of every day. 



In addition to the ability of ta-king suuple plans of gar- 

 dens, houses, &e., the ambitious young man will do well to 

 cultivate and become famUiar with the principles of isometric 

 and perspective drawing. We have known some men get 

 easily to the top of theii' profession, because when their 

 employers did not know what they meant as to proposed 

 plans, they would render all clear in a few minutes by means 

 of a pencil and a pocket notebook. We can well imagine 

 such a man as Mr. Eobson drawing an excellent plan whOst 

 we were writing a i^age. Those who have the slightest 

 natural taste for di-awing in any style should cultivate it 

 a.ssiduously. The late Mi'. Loudon used to say that nothing 

 could be more pleasant or agi-eeable, or practically u-seful. 



Many were the advices he gave to young men to be always 

 at it, whether it was a tool, a house, a plant, or a tree. For 

 om'selves we never could draw a tree, we always made a. 

 muddle of it. This, perhaps, makes us think more of the 

 man or boy who does so nicely. 



We recollect the late Mr. Joseph Knight telling us that 

 his first introduction to one of his favourite gardeners was 

 in this wise : He called ,at the Exotic Nursery, where Mr. 

 Veitch now is, and, like many more, had been knocked 

 about a good deal, and was rather out at the elbows. 

 Mr. Knight at that time was anxious to improve the 

 mental training of gardeners, and drawing was one of the 

 matters he deemed of importance. The stray waif was 

 taken on, chiefly lecause there was nothing fi-om a tool, 

 stool, a chair, or a vase which he could not pencU off directly. 

 One thing we are quite certain of — that the youth who so 

 passes his leisiu'e hours in improving himself, and, in the 

 words of our correspondent, "fitting himself for a good 

 situation," will, even before he enters the situation, be more 

 than ten times repaid from the self-respect and elevated 

 pleasure that ever attend such piu^uits when humbly but 

 perseveringly followed — pleasure that can never be known 

 by the young man who wastes his evenings in idle gossip, 

 stupifies his brain in a cloudland of tobacco, or resorts to 

 sources of amusement and pleasure that wiU not bear the 

 calm reflection of the following morning. 



In all these cm'sory notes we have merely shown what 

 a youth who has received a common education may well 

 study with advantage, and which he must strive to grapple 

 with, even if he knows little more than letters and figures, 

 if he would aspire to be recognised either as an intelligent 

 man or an inteUigent gardener. As, however, we are told 

 on rather high authorit}' that " the pi-oper study of mankind 

 is man," so without overlooking at all the importance of 

 " knowing om-selves," perha.ps the next most important 

 thing for a young gardener, after becoming a clever method- 

 ical workman, is to be thoroughly conversant with the plants 

 which he ciiltivates out of doors and in-doors. This will 

 open up at once the whole field of vegetable investigation ; 

 and in following our researches we will find that there is 

 scarcely a science but wiU tend to elucidate our subject. 

 We would encourage rather than otherwise all the legendary 

 lore and the poetical allusions connected with plants, as in 

 this hard utilitarian age we have need of all aids that will 

 soften, refine, and elevate. There is something- so poetical 

 in the very diversity of plants and flowers, that almost in- 

 stinctively the young gardener becomes a botanist. He 

 wants to know the name of a favourite flower, and he studies 

 its distinguishing characteristics. A simple introduction to 

 descriptive and systematic botany wOl therefore be desir- 

 able ; and for British plants we have met with nothing 

 better than Lindley's " School Botany." By the Linnaean 

 system we collect the plants into large groups according to 

 the arrangements of the sexual system : by the Natural 

 system we collect them into orders according to their natural 

 affinities. Few things can be more interesting than the 

 pursuits of descriptive and systematic botany. To their 

 honour be it said that there are many gardeners good bo- 

 tanists ; and where the taste leads in this way we would 

 not for a moment attempt to check such a pursuit. Still 

 we must honestly state, that as a mere gardener, having 

 mastered the first principles of systematic botany, it will be 

 more profitable in general to study keenly what is styled 

 phytological and physiological botany — embracing the diffe- 

 rent structures of plants, tracing the whole movements that 

 take place from the germinating of a seed or the striking- 

 of a bud or cutting until the time comes when the plant 

 dies from disease, age, or accident ; thus including the 

 functions of the different parts of plants, especially roots, 

 leaves, and stems, and how these are influenced by soils, 

 mechanically and chemically, by air, by dryness and mois- 

 ture, by heat and by cold, by sunlight and shade and dark- 

 ness, by diversity of seasons, varieties and peculiarities of 

 climate, not merely as to the highest and lowest tempera- 

 tures, and medium temperatures, but as to how these are 

 conjoined -with shade or bright sunshine, and altitude as 

 well as latitude of the natm-aJ home of a plant. Without 

 undervaluing in the least the keenest researches in system- 

 atic botany, as all -will tell beneficially upon plants and 

 gardening, we cannot conceal from ourselves that phyto- 



